Major in the minor
things
 Author:
Sensei Nick Dougherty
Contact and Blog:
www.SenseiNick.com
In this article, Sensei Nick shares some of the key ‘little things’
that helped his schools reach a new level of success in the past
year.
1.
Front Door: Make sure the front door is
spotless all day. Make sure instructors know that the front door is
the first impression people will have of your school.
Between classes the door should be cleaned. This demonstrates that
you have pride, and that image is important to you,
and in this business image is critical.
2.
Front Desk: Have a front desk receptionist for all
your classes. I recently went through four in the past five months.
Our new receptionist has been a great find; she has
wow factor. This is a requirement for any staff member at our
school, and it should be at yours. The appearance you
are showing is professionalism; don’t allow someone to bring their
children or new born baby behind your counter. Have
you ever seen that at Starbucks or McDonalds?
3.
Front Line: The waiting area of your school should
consist of a few things: greeting the students (someone with a
dynamic personality); nice chairs (we recently
upgraded ours); school newsletters and announcement boards that are
updated every week; flat screen TV (it’s 2008, the
quote boards are from the 90’s); good lighting and nice flooring
(we’re going to hard wood and have custom made
benches, shoe racks, and throw rugs with our logo).
4.
Training Floor: This one is simple. They must be
clean, clean, and clean.
5.
Restrooms: To me this is the most difficult to keep
clean, but the most important. It’s like the front door, between
every class make sure to check on the bathroom.
1.
Keep your word
2.
Be You
3.
Never stop training
4.
Follow your heart
5.
Love life
This is the most critical part of building a SUCCESSFUL school.
Anyone can have a school, but it won’t be SUCCESSFUL unless
there’s excellent Teamwork.
1. Make sure everyone has a defined role:
Program Director, Front Desk, Instructor. Keep it simple.
2.
Listen to people below you: everyone wants to be
recognized and heard.
3.
20/70/10 Rule: 20% of the people on every team are 100%
committed. 70% can go one of two ways - they can either
make it into the top 20% or fall into the bottom
10%. 10% of every team should just be replaced today,
because they are hurting the team. Now, take a
look at your team. If you have 10 staff members, it’s more
than likely that one should be replaced today.
4.
Don’t do anything detrimental to the team. Simple and
to the point.
5.
Recognize greatness: Tell people when they do a great
job.
This is what I gave to my staff for 2008. I took a lot of stuff
from different leaders across the world. I recommend
making a list of your own for your staff!
1.
Shut up and do your job: Taken from the New England
Patriots, you don’t hear anyone talking about themselves or
complaining on that team.
2.
Leave your Drama at the front door: Drama will
kill a team, and mentally drain everyone. Let staff know when
you hire them that everyone leaves their personal
life at the front door.
3.
We are obsessed with being the Best: Have the
best classes, school appearance, birthday
parties, cleaning, music for your classes,
flyers, website, ideas, image, and everything else you can think
of. We require everyone to hold themselves and
everything that they touch in the school to same
high standards.
4.
You must work out and train at the school if you want to work
here. People that exercise and train in the martial
arts are more positive, focused and interested in
improving than people that don’t work out or exercise.
5.
Read books
6.
Technology: You must be technology-literate and
expanding your knowledge.
7.
No text messaging during work hours. I finally put my
foot down, and the production has been amazing.
8.
Have fun!
9.
Communicate: No sticky tabs or post it notes. Use
MAS software to send messages and to make sure that task is
professionally tracked.
10.
If you’re ever going to be late - call or text message WAY in
advance. No last minute notice.
Sensei Nick has been teaching Martial Arts for 15 years and
owns two successful martial arts schools in New Jersey. He is
one of our most popular webinar hosts and is preparing his 2008
webinar that will be called “Low Cost Marketing 2008”, in which
he will be sharing his knowledge, passion and experience with
everyone.
If you are interested in networking with Sensei Nick, go to
www.SenseiNick.com, visit his blog and subscribe to
his FREE “Martial Arts Network”. It has been set up for
school owners who are interested in networking and learning from
some of the best consultants in the business.
If you would like to subscribe to Sensei Nick’s free monthly
eMotivation newsletter please
visit this link and subscribe to his blog.
Author: Sensei Nick Dougherty
Contact and Blog:
www.SenseiNick.com
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